DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I and Species D in the reply filed on 2026 March 02 is acknowledged.
Applicant has indicated claim 5 as drawn to a non-elected embodiment. Claim 8 is drawn to non-elected Species A-C. Claims 10-12 are drawn to non-elected Species B.
Claims 5, 8, 10-12, 17, and 18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention and/or species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 7, 13, and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2021/0155075 A1 (herein “Rausch”).
Regarding claim 1.
Rausch discloses a ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device (Figs. 1-3) for a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising:
at least one air inlet (Fig. 1; inlet to the left of heat exchanger 12),
at least one first air outlet (40) capable of directing the flow of air towards a right area of the passenger compartment and a second air outlet (42) capable of directing the flow of air towards a left area of the passenger compartment,
the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device further comprising:
at least a first heat exchanger (12),
a second heat exchanger (14) and
a third heat exchanger (56),
the second heat exchanger being arranged downstream of the first heat exchanger and the third heat exchanger being arranged downstream the second heat exchanger with respect to a direction of circulation of the flow of air within the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device (flow arrows shown in Fig. 1 demonstrate that 14 is downstream 12, and 56 is downstream 14),
at least a part of the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device being separated in a left zone and a right zone by a partition wall (Fig. 3; partition wall 60 separating zones 22/24 and 76/78) (Fig. 1; arrow 54 pointing at partition wall),
wherein the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device further comprises at least one opening located downstream the third heat exchanger so that at least part of the flow of air present in one of the zones fluidly communicates with the other zone (Fig. 1; opening shown to the right of 56 and upstream of the partition).
Regarding claim 2.
Rausch discloses the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall delimits at least a part of the at least one opening (shown in Fig. 1 at point of arrow 54).
Regarding claim 7.
Rausch discloses the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, in which the at least one opening is delimited at least by a rear face of the third heat exchanger and by an edge of the partition wall (shown in Fig. 1 at right side of 56).
Regarding claim 13.
Rausch discloses (see Fig. 1 provided below) the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein, when viewed in a plane parallel to the plane of the partition wall, the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device comprises a first mixing chamber communicating with an upper portion of the at least one opening and a second mixing chamber communicating with a lower portion of the at least one opening the first mixing chamber being also arranged in order to be also supplied by air bypassing the second and the third heat exchanger, preferably above the second and third heat exchangers, and the second mixing chamber being also arranged in order to be also supplied by air bypassing the second and the third heat exchanger, preferably below the second and third heat exchangers.
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Regarding claim 15.
Rausch discloses the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein the first heat exchanger is used as an evaporator ([0022]) and the third heat exchanger is an electrical heater ([0035]).
Regarding claim 16.
Rausch discloses the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein the third heat exchanger has a uniform use between the right zone and the left zone of the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device (uniform distribution shown in Fig. 3).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-4, 6, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2016/0325599 A1 (herein “Wang”) in view of Rausch.
Regarding claim 1.
Wang discloses a ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device (Figs. 1-3) for a passenger compartment of a vehicle, comprising:
at least one air inlet (at 202),
at least one first air outlet (at end of 301) capable of directing the flow of air towards a right area of the passenger compartment and a second air outlet (at end of 302) capable of directing the flow of air towards a left area of the passenger compartment,
the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device further comprising:
at least a first heat exchanger (204), and
a second heat exchanger (206) and
the second heat exchanger being arranged downstream of the first heat exchanger with respect to a direction of circulation of the flow of air within the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device (flow arrows shown in Fig. 2),
at least a part of the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device being separated in a left zone and a right zone by a partition wall (227 in Fig. 2),
wherein the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device further comprises at least one opening located downstream the third heat exchanger so that at least part of the flow of air present in one of the zones fluidly communicates with the other zone (opening at 228 and 203).
Wang does not disclose a third heat exchanger.
Rausch discloses a similar vehicle HVAC device include a first heat exchanger (12), a second heat exchanger (14), and a third heat exchanger (56), the second heat exchanger being arranged downstream of the first heat exchanger and the third heat exchanger being arranged downstream the second heat exchanger with respect to a direction of circulation of the flow of air (shown in Fig. 1 by fluid flow arrows).
Rausch provides the additional third heat exchanger downstream the second heat exchanger as an auxiliary electrical heater for when the main heat is insufficient ([0035]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the HVAC device of Wang with the third heat exchanger teachings of Rausch.
Regarding claim 2.
The combined teachings disclose The ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall delimits at least a part of the at least one opening (Wang: Fig. 2; see portion of wall at top of 228 which is delimited by the opening).
Regarding claim 3.
The combined teachings disclose the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall extends at least in a first area located between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger (Wang: see Fig. 2 below; note – both the “first area” and the “second area” in Fig. 2 below can be interpret as the first area recited in claim 3).
Regarding claim 4.
The combined teachings discloses (Wang: see Fig. 2 below) the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein the partition wall extends at least in a second area that includes at least one first mixing chamber and in a third area located downstream said at least one first mixing chamber.
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Regarding claim 6.
The combined teachings disclose (Wang: see Fig. 2 above) the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 4, further comprising at least a first air path passing through the second and third heat exchangers and that opens into the second area, and a second air path passing through the second and the third heat exchangers and that opens into a fourth area that includes at least second mixing chamber, the at least one opening being made so that the first air path fluidly communicates with the second air path.
Regarding claim 14.
The combined teachings disclose (Wang: see Fig. 1 below) the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device according to claim 1, wherein, when viewed in a plane parallel to the plane of the partition wall, the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device comprises a first mixing chamber communicating with an upper portion of the at least one opening, wherein the ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning device further comprises a first pair of mixing flaps in order to regulate the air flow between the first mixing chamber and the at least one opening, a first right mixing flap being arranged in a first right communicating path which connects the at least one opening to a right compartment of the first mixing chamber and a first left mixing flap is arranged in a first left communicating path which connects the at least one opening to a left compartment of the first mixing chamber.
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Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jon T. Schermerhorn Jr. whose telephone number is (571)270-5283. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am to 5pm.
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/JON T. SCHERMERHORN JR./ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3763